Bowler is an assistant professor of the history of Christianity in North America. Her book, Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel (Oxford University Press, 2013), received widespread media attention as the first history of the movement based on divine promises of health, wealth, and happiness.

In 2015, Bowler was unexpectedly diagnosed with Stage IV cancer at age 35. In her viral New York Timesop-ed, she writes about the irony of being an expert in health, wealth and happiness while being ill. This subsequent memoir tells the story of her struggle to understand the personal and intellectual dimensions of the American belief that all tragedies are tests of character.